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Both have looked sheepish and uneasy since their triumph, just as Shakespeare’s conspirators did after the deed, as if they’d never thought their campaign would succeed and are now wishing it hadn’t.

We’re in a mess. You’ll have noticed, and may have felt “There but for the grace of…” We’ve voted ourselves out of Europe, our main political parties are riven and in disarray, and the Prime Minister has resigned.

It began from a simple mistake. David Cameron promised a referendum to pacify his yelping right-wingers when he thought there’d be a coalition after the 2015 General Election and he wouldn’t have to go through with a referendum. Neither Boris Johnson nor Michael Gove, ostensibly Cameron’s friends and colleagues, had publicly declared their Brexit intentions at that point. Cameron must have thought he could defeat Nigel Farage’s UKIP Party along with his Tory tormentors, and could count on the Labour Party to back him. Now he’s resigned, and Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader, has been deserted by more than half his shadow cabinet. He’s refusing to quit and there’s talk of the Labour Party splitting.

It’s impossible not to see Johnson and Gove as Brutus and Cassius, envious conspirators with grudges. Boris has competed with Cameron from their Eton school days through Oxford and into their political careers: his as lovable buffoon. Gove can’t have forgiven his friend Cameron for sacking him as Education Secretary in 2014. Both have looked sheepish and uneasy since their triumph, just as Shakespeare’s conspirators did after the deed, as if they’d never thought their campaign would succeed and are now wishing it hadn’t.

What began and even remained an internal Tory party battle has exploited—cynically and destructively—real divisions. Divisions between North and South, between the affluent and the poor, between the powerful and the powerless and between the old and the young—all have been used and magnified by the referendum. Seething anger, provoked by the shrunken state, by reductions in welfare, by low pay and austerity generally, and by the ever more obvious manifestations of inequality and unfairness, has been encouraged and simplified by blaming everything on the EU. Both campaigns relied on wild speculation and untruths, but Brexit lies went down better: that our sovereignty is undermined, that the EU is run by bureaucrats rather than elected members, that immigration from EU countries was preventing immigration from Commonwealth countries, that it was immigrants’ pressure on public services rather than cuts that was undermining schools, hospitals, even prisons. Most of this is nonsense, and interestingly, the most vociferous objections to immigration are expressed by those least exposed to it.

Events are moving so fast it’s hard to keep up. The pound is at its lowest ebb for 31 years and markets everywhere are in turmoil. It will take time to replace the prime minister, and until he’s replaced it’s impossible to trigger “Article 50,” which is essential for starting the process of leaving the EU. Meanwhile, Scotland is threatening to try again for Independence, and the two Irelands are preparing for a return to border trouble and violence.

Last year’s election of Jeremy Corbyn as party leader put Labour supporters against their members of parliament. In parts of the country that have suffered most from the decline in manufacturing industry, in mining and shipping and fishing, for instance, there has been a turning away from the Labour Party and a collapse of the Unions. Now Corbyn is charged with running a “lacklustre” campaign, a handy pretext, possibly, for getting rid of him anyway. There is still no obvious alternative leader for a party still reeling from the murder of the young, charismatic Jo Cox, who has come to embody a stillborn hopefulness. The media haven’t helped by focussing on conflict rather than facts and informed adjudication among the lies. The very few Labour Brexiters got far more air time than their duller pro-Europe MPs.

The country is in a state of dismay, confusion and, yes, grief. It reminds my generation of Munich, our 1938 appeasement moment, which we were at least able to overturn. We have cut ourselves off from an organisation that has helped to keep the peace in Europe for nearly 70 years and we’ve done so when the West most needs to collaborate. There are serious as well as silly discussions going on about the legal possibilities of a reversal or an immediate general election. None seem convincing, though millions are signing petitions in their favour. The millions who voted for Brexit will be disappointed. Immigration will barely go down, and may rise in the weeks ahead. Much worse, all that money that was to be reclaimed from Brussels and spent on the National Health and other things absolutely won’t be coming their way. And rather than a repentant Brutus as Prime Minister, we may find ourselves with Coco the Clown.

Brexit, is however, a referendum, it'll be quite awhile before we see what's what. Yes, for now the pound is down. The whole thing boils down to the haves and have- nots.

Posted by Nettie Fowler on 2016-07-03 13:00:25

The EU as it is has not worked out well. The idea of a supranational Europe is one most people would vote for - with memories of the world wars. The actual EU of unelected technocrats and bureaucrats enforcing the neo Liberal orders from above has not worked out. Look at how Greece has not been dealt with in a fair way while the banks get paid for the bad loans they made, Brussels appears to another arm of the US Empire. NATO was used to bomb Yugoslavia and become the Air Force of the radical jihadists in Libya - turning the country that had the highest living standard in Africa into a basket case where the US ambassador was murdered.The immigration problem has been almost entirely caused by the US actions in the Middle East - Europe has more than gone along. This large influx of immigrants has caused problems. As one voter said - if you have money and the system works for you then you voted - remain. If you don't, it hasn't so you voted- leave. It appears the system is not working well for a majority of people in Britain.

Posted by Jim Payette on 2016-07-03 00:46:26

At least we've got Trump's endorsement of Brexit if, god help us, he wins and we want to get out of what he then creates! Or, perhaps, he doesn't actually believe in what he says. What a surprise!

Posted by joebeckmann on 2016-07-02 14:26:52

Welcome to the world created by Reagan and Thatcher.........

Posted by angryspittle on 2016-07-02 09:16:24

You realise that most of those "EU/US" banksters are part of the British financial sector in The City, right? And that those are subject to British financial regulations? And do you also realise that the UK has refused to adopt the stricter EU regulations on their financial sector?The UK has always insisted on being a special snowflake, which has refused to adopt dozens of EU resolutions because they didn't fit with their own conservative neoliberal politics.At least now with you leaving, the ECB can at least finally start to regulate the trade of its own currency properly, and maybe the EU can get some things done without them being vetoed by the UK every time.

Posted by Biohazard89 on 2016-06-29 02:12:38

The EU is failure just as NATO is. I don't agree that the EU has kept the peace. I think it would have happened anyway. Especially if the banks had been leashed properly. I think a lot of what people think is in actuality the opposite. I think the EU is a neoliberal banker/intel creation. I think it will not last. People want to be people, not social capital or commodities and want to have legitimacy and independence. These things were stolen by the EU/US bankster capitalists.

Posted by Dick Burns on 2016-06-29 00:36:10

Bye bye ITT, you're a bunch of cowards.

Posted by Bergoff Birns on 2016-06-28 12:37:31

What I found sadly hilarious in all this, was that the phrase "what is the EU" became one of the most googled search result the day after the referendum.Jason Brennan's 'The Right to a Competent Electorate' comes to mind.